A 29-ton granite boulder at Warrior Run Golf Course has been transformed over the past month into a work of patriotic art.

Warren County is home to Iowa's latest Freedom Rock, the artistic salutes to the U.S. military and veterans designed and painted by Iowan Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II.

Sorensen painted the original Freedom Rock in Adair County and has been working his way across the state in the 19 years since.

"We are No. 78 out of the 99 counties,” said Mark Burke, owner of the Warrior Run Golf Course in Norwalk.

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The Warren County Freedom Rock located at Warrior Run Golf Course.(Photo: MICHAEL ROLANDS/RECORD-HERALD)

The Warren County project, which will be unveiled Sunday, pays tribute to Indianola native and Medal of Honor recipient Junior Dean Edwards.

Edwards was killed in 1951 near Changbong-ni, Korea, after single-handedly charging a North Korean machine gun emplacement three times armed with nothing but hand grenades against heavy enemy fire.

Edwards' third charge silenced the enemy's machine gun nest and “annihilated” its crew, but he was mortally wounded in the attack.

“Sergeant First Class Edwards’ consummate valor and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the utmost glory upon himself and are in keeping with the esteemed traditions of the infantry and military service,” his Medal of Honor citation reads.

Sorensen painted his portrait and the Medal of Honor on the side of the Freedom Rock.

A large American flag is painted to appear like it's draped over the top.

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The Warren County Freedom Rock located at Warrior Run Golf Course.(Photo: MICHAEL ROLANDS/RECORD-HERALD)

“Every time I look at it I think it’s my favorite part of the rock," Burke said. "(Sorenson) works with the contours of the rock and works that into the flag drape and shape.”

The rock also honors the Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere Foundation with an image of a golfer with a prosthetic leg in mid-swing.

GIVE, which started in Riverside in 2007, is a five-week program that provides golf lessons to veterans. Burke has been involved in the program since he beginning.

“We have vets in the program who are blind, or dealing with prosthetics,” said Burke, a U.S. Navy veteran.

There are 25 or 26 courses in Iowa that are involved in the program. Once a veteran completes the lessons, he or she "can play golf for free for the rest of their lives,” he said.

The backside of the Freedom Rock depicts the USS Iowa in silhouette with images of sailors working the battleship’s deck and another of the ship's gun turret.

The USS Iowa served in World War II and the Korean War. The ship was decommissioned for the final time in 1990 and is now a museum at the Pacific Battleship Center at the Port of Los Angeles.

“We knew all along that we wanted to feature the USS Iowa battleship on this rock,” Burke said.

Burke, the official Warren County Freedom Rock sponsor, said the project has been a group effort — from the stone company that cut him a deal on the $1,500 rock to the construction company that hauled it to the golf course for free and the crane company that placed it on the ground.

"We just couldn’t have done this without all of the help of so many people,” he said.

See it for yourself

WHAT: The Warren County Freedom Rock unveiling. The event is open to the public and will include a ceremony, dedication and blessing.